Heroes is still pretty bad. If I make it through last season, I’m not sure I can take any more even for Kristen Bell.

In whose head was it a good idea to try to mix “traits” that could plausibly, however improbably, be explained by genetics with the clearly paranormal and outright fantasy? Spontaneous regeneration, telekinesis, and empathic mind reading/control are within the limits of plausibility. Multiple-personality disorder is highly uninteresting as a “heroic” trait when it exists in reality and they didn’t even bother to make her/them good guys at all. Peter’s absorbing the traits of whoever he’s around is completely implausible in the genetic explanation, and Sylar’s being able to absorb them by … looking at? eating? dissecting? their brains is just a dumb excuse for the macabre.

Masi Oka, though, is fabulous and multi-talented: He was a digital artist at Industrial Light and Magic. Wow. Say what I will about the Lucas films that shall not be named, there were some talented people in the effects department.

I gotta start watching more Tucker Carlson.

Update: Okay, seriously, everybody from Tucker to AP (comments to the above thread) to See-Dub to See-Dub’s dad apparently has one of these “Yeah, happened to me” stories about being propositioned in the men’s room. Tucker’s dead on that gay groups need to be disavowing this sort of thing early and often, unlike “It’s My Culture” George Michael.

Ew.

Scrotumy. Oh yes he did.

And listen here, Lileks, I cannot make the time from all this strenuous blogging to watch Deadwood, no matter how good you … say … it … is … and, um, I don’t even … have Netflix?

No, I did not just admit that. TiVo takes up all my TV time and affection, thankyouverymuch.

Sigh. How can I not watch something the dialogue of which Lileks says is “filigreed ornation?” I can’t not watch, that’s how. Eventually.

I caught two minutes of Desperate Housewives last night. I don’t know if I can bring myself to watch it despite Nathan Fillion’s presence. One thing’s for sure, I’ll just have to catch up via episode recaps, because I can’t slog through enough of it to find out what happened the last two seasons and I don’t want to be completely lost.

More bad news from Yes, I’m So Behind the Rest of You world: I’m not into the first season of Heroes. At all. I’m scared for the little boy, scared for the cheerleader with the scary dad, irritated by the guy running for Congress and his brother (yes, your brother puts his Congress run ahead of everything–does that give you the right to wander about his campaign headquarters blabbing about flying at the top of your voice? No). So far the only ones I really like are the cop who can hear thoughts and the addict artist. More slogging ahead before I jettison it, though …

And now, the question on everybody’s minds, what new shows will Anwyn add this fall? Wait no longer. You can always tell what a Baggins would say on any question before you ask him, and similarly you can always tell which shows Anwyn will watch if you know enough about which actors she likes–which is easily told based on which shows I loved in the past. So this fall’s new dramas are:

Private Practice, the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff that previewed last spring. If it doesn’t do better than the rather turgid, Ally McBeal-esque-without-Ally McBeal pilot, it won’t last long for me.

Dirty Sexy Money, starring Peter Krause of Sports Night Six Feet Under fame. I know him from Sports Night, though, because I don’t get HBO and haven’t watched Six Feet Under. If it doesn’t do better than its title, it won’t last long for me.

Big Shots, starring Joshua Malina of Sports Night The West Wing fame. This I’m a little more hopeful for, although I have my doubts about a writer who names a character “Karl Mixworthy.” And I always hated Christopher Titus every time I saw a commercial for, well, Titus.

The Bionic Woman. This one’s mostly out of sheer geek curiosity rather than any particular attachment to the cast, although I love Mark Sheppard and know that Katee Sackhoff will be at least guesting. Could be a knockover. Could be a dud.

Too many shows, is what it really amounts to, but at least with the cancellation of Veronica Mars, What About Brian (shut up), Standoff, and Studio 60, it’s no more than I attempted to watch last year.

The shoddy science behind the study that said Baby Einstein was bad for the baby. Study, quoted from Time:

These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. “The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew,” says Christakis. “These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos.”

Strongest detrimental effect certainly implies that the effect was negative across the board, with the strongest negative in babies eight to sixteen months old. But no! From Junk Science:

Baby DVDs and videos weren’t associated with reduced vocabulary development among the study’s 17- to 24-month-olds. For the older toddlers, watching baby DVDs and videos correlated with a similar positive effect on vocabulary development as story-telling and music-listening.

Did the alleged adverse effect of baby DVDs and videos disappear with age or was it entirely bogus to start with?

The researchers admitted in their study’s fine print that they didn’t directly test whether baby DVDs and videos had an actual positive or negative effect on vocabulary acquisition. They also quietly acknowledged that the study’s correlative nature “precluded” drawing causal inferences and that their results could have been affected by biased and incomplete data.

While they remembered or were compelled by the Journal of Pediatrics’ editors to note these “major limitations” in their write-up, Drs. Zimmerman and Christakis seemed to suffer mental lapses when it came to statements they made in media interviews.

And why let a few facts including the researchers’ history of alarming parents about children watching TV, DVD and videos (more than 10 publications since 2004) get in the way of their scare?

I didn’t blog it when the study was making the news a few weeks ago because this mommy simply didn’t care and suspicioned there might be more to the story than the study said–The Bean watched Baby Einstein videos for an hour a day from the time he was six months old, and at three and a half, he could read (yes, read independently books he’d never seen before, not just recite books he knew by heart (yes, he is amazing! Thank you!), although of course he did that too).

Basically, the study called some parents up and asked them how often their children watched these videos. And then, as “the fine print” says, according to the Junk Science article, “didn’t directly test whether baby DVDs and videos had an actual positive or negative effect on vocabulary acquisition.”

A test that didn’t test what it said it tested. Who knew? Moms knew. Moms know that no matter what studies say, the problem comes if you use TV or whatever to replace a significant amount of interaction with your baby instead of in addition to it. And a study like this simply takes the most alarmist route in insisting that must be the case in any household where babies watch videos. How insulting that is to your average parent, who bends over backwards to work with the baby for the baby’s optimal development.

Out: Christians elect Christians, unacceptably mixing church and state. Oh, those dumb Christians.

In: Christians elect entities run by people they think are Christians but who really aren’t. Oh, those dumb Christians.

Moyers:

… reports were circulating that [Karl Rove] himself had confessed to friends his own agnosticism; he wished he could believe, but he cannot. That kind of intellectual honesty is to be admired, but you have to wonder how all those folks on the Christian right must feel discovering they were used for partisan reasons by a skeptic, a secular manipulator.

And Rove calls the PBS ombudsman to respond, after an intervening interview with Chris Wallace and Moyers standing by his statement:

In his call to me [PBS ombudsman Michael Getler], Rove said, “If someone says he is a believer, why is that not accepted? He (Moyers) has decided he will be the judge and the jury about whether I’m a believer. He attributes this to unknown parties and then defends it in a letter to Chris Wallace, with no personal interface with me at all. How does the San Antonio Express know? They don’t. They don’t know me well. He (Moyers) then relies on a blogger who says ‘I could be wrong here.’ Well, he is wrong.” Rove calls Moore an “incredible left-wing ideologue.” Bill Israel, he says, “was once my teaching assistant. He was no more a close friend of mine than the man in the moon. I attend church in my neighborhood and here in Washington. I was married in church, worship in church, tithe to the church. My faith is my business. This is just beyond the pale.”

Aside: The ombudsman at PBS doesn’t like Moyers pulling this crap on PBS’s dime? That really is just in.

H/t Allah and the Quote of the Day.

Diss shows or movies starring Nathan Fillion and rue the consequences of having to take up again, after washing my hands of them following the first season, with Desperate Housewives just to get a glimpse of him. Maintaining celebrity crushes is not easy, my friends.

But OMG is he not the cutest thing ever? Ever?

Update: We interrupt this post to inform you that the video of Cute Nathan is “no longer available.” We assure you, however, that Nathan is Still Cute.

It could be worse. And will be, I fear. Alas.

H/t Whedonesque.

Update: Note to whoever made this video: Spell the man’s name correctly. We are not amused.

Because, well, good grief. I tried to avoid getting into a new show as long as I could, but … c’est la vie. Time to find out what non-Veronica chops the girl really has.

H/t Gib.

So they replaced Rosie with somebody who at least admits outright that she doesn’t think about her opinions.

O’REILLY: And I respect that point of view. But if you’re going to go out and say to millions of people we got to get out of there now, then, I’m going come in and say, “Well, what happens if we do that? Do we put America in more danger?” And it doesn’t matter how you feel, you need to — you need to think about that.

GOLDBERG: If you are asking my opinion…

O’REILLY: Yes.

GOLDBERG: Then it does matter how I feel.

O’REILLY: No, you need to think about it.

GOLDBERG: No, Bill. You need to think about it. That’s how you do it. I don’t do it that way.

I guess View watchers will find out a lot more about how she does do it.

This post made possible by Allah’s House of Fish in a Barrel. Come on down!

David Tennant, I think you’re the best thing ever in my limited experience of British TV, even including Hugh Laurie, but your show done broke my heart for the second season finale in a row.

**SPOILERS** for Doctor Who S3 after the jump. (more…)

Isaiah Washington’s version of what happened on the set of Grey’s Anatomy–that he used the word in the course of a fight with Patrick Dempsey–is far more credible than T.R. Knight’s, that he used it directed personally at Knight. Unless Washington is difficult to work with in general, that show booted one of its best characters for very shabby reasons. Word to the wise, Grey’s–Drs. Burke, Yang, Bailey, Karev, Webber, and Torres are a hell of a lot more likeable than the titular Dr. Grey or Drs. Shepherd, O’Malley, or Stevens. Hope you’ve got some stellar stuff lined up for next season with no more unfortunate cast depletion.

Hugh Laurie gets the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth.

The Quote of the Day actually came from Piz, on the season finale of Veronica Mars: “Rob Thomas is a whore.”

Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox 20 as referenced in the quote, is also the name of the creator of Veronica. Code, my friends, for this little gem at much-reviled (by me) Ain’t It Cool News. I’m just going to quote the whole thing, since the post *this* post is quoting is no longer up at CW forums:

I couldn’t confirm this story, but…

[“]HOLLYWOOD – In a shocking move that has fans and critics alike cheering, the News Corp television network MyNetworkTV has snatched Veronica Mars from the jaws of cancellation.

The network announced late Tuesday that it has sealed a one-year, $24 million deal with Veronica producer Warner Brothers, leaving the CW, the series’ home since its transition to the CW network when UPN and the WB merged. MyNetworkTV will fork over about $1.1 million per episode for the first season with the option for a second, the Hollywood Reporter said. The deal also includes a provision that would allow MyNetworkTV to have first pick up on any new Rob Thomas television projects for the next two years. “We are incredibly pleased to have Veronica Mars on MyNetworkTV,” Roger Ailes, the network’s president, said in a statement. “Not just because it is one of the best shows on the air and represents a new era in MyNetworkTV’s life and direction, but more importantly because Rob Thomas is one of the finest writers and producers in television.” During the past season, the show has averaged 2.48 million viewers in its 9 p.m. Tuesday timeslot, but has a passionate fan base which has donated upwards of 300 DVDs of the series to public libraries across the country. The 64th and final CW episode of Veronica Mars will air May 22.[“]

Now, I couldn’t find a source for this story, and I had just copied the post when it seems someone at the CW removed it from their forum. It would be very cool to find out this is true, but the one problem I have is looking up stories on Roger Ailes, quoted as the network president in this news story, I find he may actually be the Fox News president. Hopefully this isn’t a sick joke.

You “find” he “may” actually be the Fox News president? Well done on your sleuthing skills, mate. Roger Ailes is the president of Fox News, the chairman of Fox Television Stations, and the president of their year-old UPN replacement, MyNetworkTV, all still according to the Wiki. Also according to the Wiki, however, MyNetworkTV is phasing out its “soaps,” whatever it has that can be dignified by that name, and replacing it with an all-reality format.

If that’s true, then this tantalizing Veronica rumor is just that and nothing more. CW, I’m sure, doesn’t want it cluttering up their already shirty Veronica forums, whether it’s true or not–those of us who were still watching CW are already trying to find out where MyNetworkTV is on our dials. Talk about your cliffhanger–the season (series?) finale was classic Veronica, well done and able to either walk out of our lives into the sunset or to pick up where it left off. Rob Thomas doesn’t seem the type to whore the show right out of its creative integrity, but things got a little shaky this season. I hope it can come back in full varnish, but if not, better just let it ride off while it’s still ahead.

Via my fellow VM fans at Whedonesque.org.